THE FARM.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 524, 18 February 1882, Page 11

THE FARM.

BEANS, SAND AND WATER. AN EXPERIMENT. In order to ascertain what amount of nutrition, if any, beans derive from the atmosphere, in June last I planted ten horse beans in a flowerpot which was filled with perfectly clean-wished silver sand. The pot was raised a foot from the ground, so that nothing might be absorbed from it. In due time th 6 plants sprung up, grew freely, flowered, and the ten plants produced twenty-eight pods, which contained altogether fifty-four beans. Nothing was' supplied to the plants beyond water, and that water .is exceedingly pure. When the haulm, leaves, and pods were thoroughly withered and blackened, the plants were removed from the sand, roots and all, and were further dried in the air under cover for a fortnight. The ten bean plants being then thoroughly dry, weighed, with roots, leaves, haulm, pods, and beans, 1312 grains —the fifty-four beans by themselves 372 grains. The weight of the ten beans planted was 69 grains. From what source then has this increase in weight been derived ? The plants could not have fed on the sand in the flowerpot, and the water supplied being practically pure would contribute nothing ; and yet this 69 grains of beanseed expands to 1312 grains of organic substance, or: nineteen times its original weight in less than three months. The twenty-eight pods were found to contain fifty-four beans, and' these weighed 327 grains, or nearly five and a half times more than the weight of the seed sown.

Simultaneously with the above experiment I planted ten horse beans in another flowerpot filled with clean-washed silver sand, this pot also being raised clear of the ground. These plants were watered with a weak solution of a manure composed of superphosphate of lime, muriate of potash, and sulphate of lime. They grew freely, flowered, and the ten plants produced fortyeight pods. When the haulms had withered, the plants were removed with their roots from the sand and dried thoroughly in the air. They then weighed 3237 grains, or forty-seven times more than the weight of the seed sown. The forty-eight pods contained 132 beans, and these weighed 1050 grains, or more than fifteen times more than the weight of the seed sown. It will be observed that this manure contained no nitrogen, and yet it raised the yield of beans in weight threefold, although, as is well known, beans are rich in nitrogen. Should any of your readers care to repeat the experiment, I give the composition of the manure :

Per acre. Calcic superphosphate 33 par cent. ... 352 lb. Muriate potash 80 per cent 176 ~ Calcined gypsum 352 ~

880 lb. —which will cost 30s lOd per acre. I have found this manure excellent for clover or vetches on a large scale. It is very economical, and can easily be prepared by any intelligent farmer. By calculations I have made I-find that if the clover or vetches—after the first cut, which is made into hay—are ploughed in green a supply of nearly 1001 b of nitrogen per acre is secured. The money value of nitrogen is Is per pound when purchased as sulphate of ammonia, Peruvian guano, &c. One hundred pounds of nitrogen is therefore equal to a gain of £5 per acre, which the farmer may procure for himself from the atmosphere instead of purchasing it. Fifty pounds of nitrogen per acre is an ample supply of that element for a wheat crop, and Mr Prout only provides 38Jlb. Cannot our depressed agriculturists make a small trial, and report results in your journal? Every saving in these days is of great importance ; and when an experiment is based on sound scientific principles, and is simple and not costly, and does not interfere with farm routine, it is by so much less objectionable. Cold Clay.— “ Agricultural Gazette.”

A NEW GRUBBING MACHINE. The following account of a public trial of a grubbing machine manufactured by Mr J. Walls, of G'amperdown recently, is published in the “ Camperdown Chronicle.” There were between fifty and sixty gentlemen present, and a good deal of interest was taken in the experiments. Mr Walls has manufactured a number of grubbers, several of which are at work in the forest, country in the vicinity of Port Campbell, Victoria. “ Before giving an account of the trial it may be as well to describe the apparatus. It will scarcely be believed when we say that its whole weight is only 2-Jcwfc, and it may therefore be carried from place to place in an ordinary spring cart. It may be purchased for £7 ; and can be worked by a man arid a boy. It consists of a number of iron rods of various lengths, connected by hooks and links

like ordinary bullock rods, two or three strong chains, a flat piece of iron about Sft in length, perforated witli a double row of holes, 2.Via apart, and a wooden lever, 10ft or 12ft in length. Thus it will bo seen that the apparatus is simplicity itself. When a tree is to be pulled down a chain is made fast to it 12ft Or ,20ft from the giound, according to the height of the tree. Another chain is fastened round the butt of a second tree 20 or 30 yards away, to which is attached the flat perforated iron bar referred to above. The other end of the bar is connected with the chain on the tree intended to be grubbed by the iron rods. When the connection has been established, the slack is drawn in, and everything made taut. The wooden lever, we forgot to mention, is iron-tipped at one end, anil has an opening in it through which the flat bar is slipped. A man then takes the other end of the lever and works it backwards and forwards. As soon as one of the holes in the iron plate or bar is uncovered, one of two iron pegs is inserted into it, and the lever then works against the fulcrum in the opposite direction until the hole lower down on the other side of the bar is visible, when a peg is placed In it, and the other peg removed. In this way, inch by inch, the iron bar is traversed, each hole that is gained, of course, meaning a gain of 2Jjin towards bringing the tree down. An enormous leverage is thus obtained. Something must come, and, as iron.is stronger than wood or earth, that something is the tree. Slowly the roots begin to crack, the earth to upheave, and, inch by inch, the tree crosses the boundary liue between the vertical and horizontal positions, until at length it crashes down. The length of chain supplied with each grubber is 100 ft, so that where anchorage can be got at anything like that distance there is ample time to get out of harm’s way. Where the trees are very tall a few extra lengths of rods would not be much additional expense. We observed that when a block of wood could be conveniently obtained it was thrown down in front of the falling tree close to the butt, and by this means the roots were thrown completely out of the ground by the jerk. It is hardly possibly to convey an adequate idea of the leverage without the aid of diagrams, but the above description is the best wo can manage.

“The trial commenced at 1 o’clock. A light-wood tree, about 18in in diameter, was first operated upon. The tackling was fixed and the tree uprooted in exactly a quarter of an hour. The next tree, a lightwood nearly 2ft in diameter, was grubbed in the short space of nine minutes. A dead gum-tree, about 2ft through was then pulled down with the greatest ease. A green gum, about 2ft 6in through, was then tried, but the butt of the tree had a rotten seam in it, and, when the strain was applied, the tree broke off some feet from the ground. Several other trees were pulled down, and the success of the machine as a tree grubber was established bovoud a doubt. It was evident that a man and a boy could do as much work in a day with the apparatus as two men could with ordinary grubbing topis in a week. In other words, a tree that would take a man a couple of hours’ hard work to grub can now be uprooted by the grubbing machine in lOmiu. An attempt wa3 subsequently made to grub a stump, Ift through, and about 18ia high, but it was evident that this was asking too much of the apparatus, as sufficient leverage could not be applied to force up a stump whose height was so insignificant. However, as we said before, something must come when the power is applied ; in this instance one of the links of the chain gave way under the enormous pressure. The chain was made of £in. specially prepared iron. Common sense, however, suggests that, in grubbing green and strongly rooted stumps, if a few spades of earth were removed, and the surface roots cut, the risk of breakage would be reduced to a minimum. No spade or axe was used at the trial.”

FARMING AS AN OCCUPATION— II

What is success in life ? If we mean the accumulation of great wealth—then few men in any business will be successful. If we mean the acquisition of a competence, then most good farmers succeed. Just how they succeed I cannot show by giving particulars, beyond mentioning certain great principles which are necessary to success in nearly every kind of business ; among these may be specified industry and economy, directed by intelligence. Let us test this matter on a large scale. At the end of the Revolutionary war, say one hundred years ago—there was scarcely a white man living, in all that part of the State of New York lying west of Utica. Dense forests covered all the laud, and before food could be produced, at least twelve day's labor of a sturdy axe-man was required to clear an acre fit for planting corn or wheat, among stumps that must remain in the way of the plough for many years. This land once cleared, except the stumps, must be fenced with immense labor. House and barns must be constructed. Mills, bridges, roads, then school houses, then churches, came in their order. No rich men went there, except as speculators, hindering the progress of the country by buying land in advance of the demand of settlers, and raising the price as the settlements advanced. The rich lands teemed with m " *ia, and this was especially true along the streams which gave sites for mills, which were to form nuclei of villages. Notwithstanding all these, and many other obstacles, the farmers on this part of our State, have accumulated a mass of wealth, which now appears in cities, villages, farms, and all the elegances of the most advanced civilization. But why cite the cities and villages as the ■ work of the farmers ? Because they all owe their existence to the fields around them—and their inhabitants are but the manufacturers and exchangers of the productions of m the soil. Besides this accumulation of wealth that can be seen, the sottlers of this land have supported themselves, educated their children, encouraged all branches of business, and made them prosperous. This shows that farming does pay, when viewed in its aggregate results. It not only pays, but it makes everything else pay. Looking at this work of a century, we ask, what will the descendants of these farmers do with the accumulations of following centuries. They pay no rent to landlords ; the profits are all their own.

This is but the money view of the subject. The pure air and health that have resulted from drained swamps and cultivated lands ; the room to enjoy life, and the ability to stay all the year at home, as compared with

city life, which foices an absence of a month ' or two every summer in pursuit of health ; these and many other considerations which make a country life desirable, are not to be lost sight of, when we are inquiring whether farming pays. There are men, and many women, who cannot endure the imagined i monotony—and retirement of country life. They must go faster, they must have more money, and spend more than farming’ will give them. Let such people have tlieir way, and do not urge them to live away from the pavements. ’ There will be farmers enough without them, to meet all demands for food and material for clothing all the non-pro-ducers. There is now, ever was, and ever will be, the sharpest competition in farming, of any business whatever, and the great question with farmers, always is, will paying prices be received for their products ? The wonderful improvemant in the tools and machinery used on farms, and the vast extension of railroads to new fields, make the question of markets in which to sell the farm products much more pressing than the one so often put in the past, how shall we keep farmer’s sons on the farms, and prevent their going into the cities to swell the ranks of . competition there ? Let them go ; the cities need their new blood, and their brothers whom they leave behind, will rejoice in tlieir success in building up markets. Young men, city raised, often inquire as to where they had better locate, with a view of spending their lives on farms.. My first answer is,, go to some good land. Do not accept poor land as a gift, unless it is near some town which will pay for perishable articles that will not bear long transportation, but as railroads are now managed, it is hard to say what, will not bear, what were but lately called long distances. Farming near city markets demands peculiar gifts, among them ability to peddle “ truck.” Let us return to the consideration of what has been done in Central and Western New York. The pioneers of these two regions were mainly of the same stock ; and the differences that can now be found between the people living in the northern towns of Oneida County and the lands thereabout, and the people in Livingston County, are due to the soils and climates there found.

On fruitful soils in good climates the best people not only remain, but leave their children. On lands in some of the northern parts of this State, the forests were the attractions to the pioneers, and the timber on e removed, the laud is too poor to enable any considerable population to find support. So it will become a great park, in which to raise deer and trout. Guides and health or pleasure seekers will be its principal population.

If yon are to be a farmer, as the word is now understood, go to a healthful country having a fruitful soil. If you have capita’, go where fanning is most perfectly conducted Purchase a highly improved farm, and let your capital put you at once into the possession of the fruits of the labor of those who made the country productive and healthful. If you have but little capital, go West, buy some land and grow, up with the country, knowing if you make a living for the first ten years that reasonable wealth will come in due time. If you make a gqod location, buy all the land you can hold, and not fall into the “ land poor” class. I am often asked, as the most des'rable size of a farm. This must depend on the size of the man who is to own and conduct it. The present tendency is in the direction of lax-ge farms. Machinery costs much, and will do much; and its profitable use calls for much land. Small farms neither justify the cost of machinery that does work cheaply, nor the employment of much hired labor. So the sure result is, the occupant will have much hard work to do; with but little profit. The large farm gives employment to its conductor, iu directing the work, and justifies a system of resident labor, performed by men having families living in houses on d the farm, and boarding themselves. I once asked a very successful middle-aged farmer of many acres, as to the comparative profit of small and large farms, knowing that he began with a farm of about seventy acres, and at that time had about three hundred. His reply was that he had gone into debt for all his la#d and had paid for it by its own productions, but that his progress had been very slow while he had but little land, and was faster as he increased his debt for more acres. This is a man of marked success. He was raised on a farm. A near-by Academy gave the facilities for a good education, and natural energy and ability enabled him to create capital out of his business. Very few men, in any business, do any better than such men do on farms. It is true that he has his cattle, and horses and sheep to take care of, and his men to direct, but this really makes less trouble than the management of most kinds of property.

So it comes to this—the man himself decides as to the work he shall do in life, and w hile Ido not deny, that ‘ 1 time and chance happeneth to them all,” yet I confidently assert, that if to the industry, skill, and economy I have suggested as being necessary, there be added the aid of a wife in like manner endowed with these qualities, there is no manner of life so likely to insure success.

FARMING NOTESIt would seem, according to the ‘‘ 'Sydney Mail ” that the variety of wheat which will successfully resist rust in any part of Australia has not yet been produced. For instance, the Indian wheat introduced by the Agricultural Society of New South Wales last August, with the view of testing its rustresisting powers in several districts of this colony, has not proved rustproof in the county Cumberland. Early in September Mr Walter Lamb sowed an acre of his land at Rooty Hill with the new wheat. It took kindly to the soil, and throve so remarkably that at the close of last week it was nearly mature and promised a heavy crop. In a few days it would have been reaped, but red rust set in, stalk and ear being affected, and perforce Mr Lamb had to mow it for hay. It is noteworthy that the new cereal by the September sowing, lacked much which was short of fair play. Mr Lamb feels confident that, if the same wheat had been put in a couple of months earlier, several sound bushels of it would now be availablefor seed; bnfc the fact still stands glaringly forth that under certain adverse circumstances Indian wheat is not invulnerable.

Carnivorous Plants. Charles Darwin has said, and lie finds many believers, that ceram plants, such as ihe Drosera or Sundew and our own Carolina Fly-trap (Diomea miiscipula), are fed by the insects that tlieir wonderful structure enables them to catch In conjunction with a, friend a friend a few years ago I made most extensive and careful experiments in our greenhouses, covering a period of six months, with'several hundred plants of the Carolina. Fly-trap, and the result showed that in two lots, treated exactly in the same manner, that those fed with insects in no way differed from those that were not fed, which satisfied us that if the plants digested the insects placed in the leaf-trap the food was in no way beneficial. While these experiments were going on, they were watched with, great interest by hundreds, and nearly all were convinced that the belief that any plants feed on insects is a delusion, although Mr Darwm has written a book of 400 pages in the attempt to prove it a fact. , C I ' OR Mange. —Barbadoes tar (says the Queenslander ”) rubbed on the nose has been found m England to be a complete cure for mange m dogs. A landowner near Manchester, by the same means, perserved his herd of cattle from foot and mouth disease, whilst every herd around him and in his neighborhood was suffering. The tar was simply rubbed on the muzzles of the cattle twice a week.' If Barbadoes tar possesses the quality it is here credited with, it might be convenient for owners of valuable dogs and cattle to have a plentiful supply of it when mange and pleuro pneumonia are about. We learn, that, although the weather has been exceptionally unfavorable for harvest operations, the bulk of the cereal crops in the neighborhood of Masterton have been got in, and that on many of the holdings threshing has already been completed. The result in grain is said to be excellent, the highest expectations being fulfilled. The grain, too, is pronounced by good judges to be equal to the best that has been produced in the district. Farmers continue to complain of the scarcity of laborers, and many of the hands are working double time, while neighbors are helping each other along as best they can. Were it not for the wonderfully labor saving and rapid work of the reaper and hinder, a large portion of the crops would undoubtedly be destroyed through lack of hands to gather them. 53

The “ Hawera Star says :—Mr Bailey, Chiei Inspector of Sheep, says that, having regard to the number of sheep now in the Patea oistr ct which have occupied accommodation paddocks in which the scabby sheep from Wanganui were lodged in passing up the coast, besides the risk of p-.ssage along the h-'gh road, it is urgently desirable tint a dip sh. uid ’be erected at each sale yard ; all the she p should be pm. through the dip before leaving the yaid. !f this were contiumd systematically for several months, the risk which now exi-ts wou’d be overcome. It is better to sp-nd threepence a-he *d in dipping before sheep leave the auction yard <hau it. is. t > risk a loss of hundred- of pounds through infection developing after sheep are removed.

the harvest in I’.fieri is not turning out so well as expected, owing to the ravages & f small birds ami the recent-had weather, t";

Judging .by present appearances there is every promise of an excellent supply of grass in the country districts for the comiug winter. A period of drought iu April or Miy would, of course, materially interfere with present prospec s, but scarcely to such an extent as to make grass very scarce. The frequeut falls of rain and succeeding calms have caused a splendid growth even in the driest localities, and it is believed that in some cases the grass cannot be fed off, but that it will settle down and rot when the winter rains set in.

The “Philadelphia Weekly Press” says Here is a demonstrated fact for careless daily men to ponder upon. A. cow gives healthy milk in exact proportion to the surplus of food beyond what is necessary for supporting her life. In other words, if her food barely suffices for proper nourishment, the milk she gives is produced at a loss to animal tissue—it makes her poorer all the time. A cow is a milk-producing machine, and only what is not needed to keep her in average flesh returns a profit to the owner, lo stint a cow in milk, and kept for milk or dairy purposes, in which farmers can eirna"e. They had better starve themselves.”